Stream-stay

ABSTRACT

The specification and drawings disclose an improved stay arrangement and method of using the same. One embodiment of the disclosed apparatus comprises an extruded aluminum forestay member mounted for rotation about its longitudinal axis and having pair of longitudinally extending grooves which can slidably receive the luff of a sail such as a jib. With one jib in position, the stay can be rotated slightly and a second jib raised and trimmed prior to lowering the first. A second embodiment discloses a stay member having a single longitudinal groove. The cross-section of the stay is such as to provide extremely high strength when compared to similar prior art stays.

Matte States Steam atet [1 1 Dec. 3, 1974 STREAM-STAY [76] Inventor: Leathem S. Steam, 301 Riverdale Dr., Apt. 2, Rocky River, Ohio [22] Filed: Aug. 21, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 282,414

1,488,432 6/1966 France ..1l4/l02 Primary ExaminerDuane A. Reger Assistant ExaminerStuart M. Goldstein 5 7 ABSTRACT The specification and drawings disclose an improved stay arrangement and method of using the same. One embodiment of the disclosed apparatus comprises an extruded aluminum forestay member mounted for rotation about its longitudinal axis and having pair of longitudinally extending grooves which can slidably receive the luff of a sail such as a jib. With one jib in position, the stay can be rotated slightly and a second jib raised and trimmed prior to lowering the first. A second embodiment discloses a stay member having a single longitudinal groove. The cross-section of the stay is such as to provide extremely high strength when compared to similar prior art stays.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures STREAM-STAY This invention relates generally to stays for sails, and more particularly to improved forestay or jibstay arrangements.

The invention provides jibstays or forestays which are especially strong andand may be incorporated in a stay for hoisting and trimming a second sail before lowering the first sail.

Depending upon sailing conditions, it is frequently desirable to change jibs during the course of sailing. This is particularly true on sailboats used in racing. As can be readily appreciated, when it becomes desirable during a race to change from a jib of one size to one of a different size, the speed with which the change is made is extremely important. In the past, two different approaches to the changing of jibs have been tried. Most frequently, only one jibstay would be employed and it would be a wire or rod member. The jib would be anchored to the member by means of a series of hanks. When it was necessary to change jibs in the shortest possible time, the change would be accomplished in the following steps:

I. The lower two hanks on the original jib in use were unclipped;

2. All of the hanks of the new jib were clipped in the space created by releasing the two hanks on the original jib;

3. The original jib was lowered and the remaining hanks unclipped as it came down; and,

4. Thereafter, the new jib was immediately hoisted.

From the foregoing, it is apparent that valuable racing time was lost while the first jib was being lowered,

and before the second jib was hoisted and trimmed.

One solution which the prior art adopted in an attempt to speed up the jib changing process was the use of two separate jibstays or forestays, one for each jib. This provided no real solution however, because, although the change of sails could be made quicker, the sailing efficiency of whichever jib was in use at the time was lower. A

It is a fundamental of good sailing practice, especially when racing, that the forestay or jibstay must be taut at all times, and if it is not, any such slack will interfere with the shape of the sail and the resulting sailing characteristics. In addition, the tautness of the jibstay is frequently used by good sailors as an indication that the jib is set properly, and any slack in the stay eliminates the availability of this useful indicator. The tautness of the jibstay is largely dependent upon the tension exerted on the tip of the mast, to which the jibstay is an chored, by the backstay and its related equipment. If-a sailboat is designed for one jibstay, and it is replaced by two jibstays, problems are encountered. In order to subsequently maintain proper tension on both jibstays, it is necessary to replace the backstay and the related hardware with equipment which will be capable of maintaining twice as much total tension on the pair of jibstays.

Moreover, if such a costly beefing up" of the backstay equipment is feasible, the use. of two separate jibstays is still not a desirable solution to the problem. For example, a second jibstay which is merely idle and not supporting a jib is undesirable from an aerodynamic the stay, such as for anchoring the stay. This obviously increases the complexity and wieght of the rigging.

The present invention provides jibstay arrangements which are particularly strong and simple. Jibstays formed in accordance with the invention are suitable for use in a conventional manner. or can be used for jib changing operations in accordance with an inventive method.

The stay may comprise an elongated member having a longitudinal slot through which a sail can extend. The longitudinal slot is preferably cylindrical and is offset from the centerline of the stay to intercep the outer circumference of the member to define the slot through which the sail. extends. The outer peripheral surface of the stay is curved and the curvature of the outer surface and the groove being such that the wall thickness of the member progressively increases from the slot proceeding around the groove to provide a wall thickness behind the slot which is at least twice the wall thickness adjacent the slot to provide torsional rigidity in the forestay. The member is an extrusion of an aluminum metal It is an object object of the present invention to provide a jibstay having its weight, torsional rigidity, and tensile strength approximately equal to that of the present rod-type stay, in addition to being corrosionresistant for use in salt water.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a streamlined stay having good aerodynamic characteristics which will cause a minimum of turbulence and disruption of the laminar air flow.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. I is a side elevation of a sailboat employing a jibstay formed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; I

FIG. 2 is a side elevation, on a larger scale than FIG. 1, showing a jib being hoisted;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and on a larger scale;

FIG. 4 is a similar cross-section taken during a step i of the sail changing process;

standpoint. Additionally, a second jibstay involves a duplication of the equipment used in conjunction with FIG. 5 is also a cross-section, showing an alternative embodiment of the stay of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings which are only for the purpose of illustrating preferred embodiments of the present invention, and not for the purpose of limiting the same, FIG. 1 shows a simple example of a typical sailboat rigging of the type which could employ the jibstay of the present invention. Typically, the jibstay extends from the bow B of the boat to a point on the mast M. The jibstay 20 is anchored at its upper and lower ends by means which permit it to be rotated about its longitudinal axis. These means could be of many types but are illustrated as conventional swivels l0 and 12.

FIG. 2 shows jib 30 being hoisted, with bead 32 on the luff of the jib sliding within a groove of stay 20. The bead 32 on luff of the jib comprises the luff edge of the jib being wrapped around a flexible plastic rope, rod or tube 36, and held firmly in place thereon by means of a clamping member 38. The clamping member 38 may be a piece of heavy sail cloth material folded over the tube and stitched or bonded to hold it in a fixed location with respect to the sail. The clamping member could be of any other suitable material as long as it is longitudinally flexible, as shown in FIG. 2, and would not become abraided too quickly from rubbing on the inside of the groove of the stay due to the fluctuating force exerted by the wind on the sail. It should be appreciated that other means could be used to interconnect the sail and jibstay.

The hoisting of the sail can be accomplished by any of the methods well known in the art, such as pulling the tip of the jib by means of halyard 14 which rides on the halyard sheave 16, as is best shown in FIG. 1.

The stay 20 is an elongated member which in the subject embodiment is extruded aluminum, although it should be understood that any other material would be suitable which can be fabricated to the desired shape, which has the necessary tensile and torsional strength, and which is sufficiently light in weight. While it is possible that the bead 32 could vary in size on the two jibs to be hoisted n thestay 20, thereby requiring different sized grooves in the stay, for purposes of describing the subject embodiment, a uniform bead size will be assumed. The stay has a pair' of inner surfaces 22 which generally define portions of cylinders. Each of the inner surfaces 22 further defines a longitudinal axis of curvature 24, and each terminates in a pair of surfaces 26 which define a slot 27. It is apparent that the inner surfaces 22 could have a configuration other than cylindrical, however, for the subject embodiment, the cylindrical shape is deemed most beneficial.

The cross-section shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is illustrative of the stay of the present invention over the majority of its length. However, at the lower end of jibstay 20, in the area generally indicated as 26' in FIG. 2, the flanges terminating in slot-defining surfaces 26 are deformed outwardly, opening the slot so that it is wider than the bead 32. This allows for entry of the bead 32 into the groove of the stay 20. While the flange portions in the subject embodiment have been outwardly deformed, it is within the contemplation of the present invention that any other means of widening the mouth 27 of the groove is acceptable, as long as the bead 32 is easily receivable within the groove.

The method of the present invention is best illus trated by reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, in which the oppositely disposed, grooved sides ofjibstay are distinguished by reference to the normally-fore portion F and the normally-aft portion A. In FIG. 3, the jib 30 is illustrated as having been hoisted and set. In FIG. 4, jibstay 20 has been rotated approximately 180 in a clockwise direction so that the bead 32 is now bent as shown with the jib 30 extending past the stay. In addition, FIG. 4 shows the replacementjib 30 and its bead 32' being after which the stay will again be rotated 180 clock wise so that jib 30, now the only jib hoisted and set, will again be in the position shown in FIG. 4. It should be noted that the sail changing method can be advantageously practiced independently of the particular configuration of the stay 20 and regardless of whether the grooves in the stay are 180 apart.

An improved single-groove stay 20"embodying the present invention for use on sail boats where it is not desired to be able to change jibs is shown in FIG. 5. The single-groove stay 20 has an inner surface 22. of gen erally cylindrical configuration which defines an axis of curvature 24", as well as an outer surface 28" which is also of generally cylindrical configuration and de fines an axis of curvature 25". As illustrated, the inner and outer surfaces terminate in a pair of slot-defining surfaces 26" to form opening 27". It has been discovered that the single-grooved stay of the present invention has a substantially greater torsional strength than the stays of the prior art, although having the same cross-sectional area, and therefore the same tensile strength, amount of material, and manufacturing cost.

The invention has been described in great detail sufficient to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the same. Obviously, modifications and alterations of the preferred embodiments will occur to others upon a reading and understnading of the specification and it is my intention to include all such modifications and alterations as part of my invention insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A torsion-resistant forestay for ajib sail, for receiving and retaining the bead on the luff of a sail to support the sail in a set position comprising a member of substantially uniform cross-section substantially throughout the length of the member, the outer surface of said member being of cylindrical configuration, said member having sail retaining means therein comprising a groove extending substantially the length thereof for receiving the bead on the luff of a sail to support the sail in set position, said groove being of cylindrical configuration and having an axis offset from the centerline of the stay and intersecting the outer surface of the member to define a slot through which the bead of the sail passes, the curvature of said outer surface and of said groove being such that the wall thickness of said hoisted through the groove in the normally-fore portion F of the stay. Subsequently, jibstay 20 will be rotated 180 counter-clockwise and the original jib 30 lowered,

member progressively increases from said slot proceeding around said groove to provide a wall thickness behind said slot which is at least twice the wall thickness adjacent said slot to provide torsional rigidity in the forestay, said member as defined being an aluminum extrusion. 

1. A torsion-resistant forestay for a jib sail, for receiving and retaining the bead on the luff of a sail to support the sail in a set position comprising a member of substantially uniform cross-section substantially throughout the length of the member, the outer surface of said member being of cylindrical configuration, said member having sail retaining means therein comprising a groove extending substantially the length thereof for receiving the bead on the luff of a sail to support the sail in set position, said groove being of cylindrical configuration and having an axis offset from the centerline of the stay and intersecting the outer surface of the member to define a slot through which the bead of the sail passes, the curvature of said outer surface and of said groove being such that the wall thickness of said member progressively increases from said slot proceeding around said groove to provide a wall thickness behind said slot which is at least twice the wall thickness adjacent said slot to provide torsional rigidity in the forestay, said member as defined being an aluminum extrusion. 